Just three of the 12 new EU member countries attracted more foreign direct investments than Bulgaria last year. Those are Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, Henri R. Jackelen – UNDP Bulgaria said.

Bulgaria attracted a total of 8.429 billion dollars in 2007 and ranked first among the newly adopted EU members in terms of FDI per capita.

FDI stands at 37 billion dollars for the past seven years, Jackelen also said.

The bulk of the investments to Bulgaria comes from Austria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and USA, Stoyan Stalev, Bulgarian Investments Agency executive director, said. He also pointed out that Bulgaria has not been seriously hit by the global financial crisis.

Foreign investments are primarily directed to the sector of real estate and finance, followed by that o manufacturing.

Number one in attracted FDI in the world is the US, followed by Great Britain, France, Canada and the Netherlands.

790,000 subsidiaries of foreign companies employed a total of 82 million people last year and sold goods worth a total of 31 trillion dollars.